NATURE, SCOPE AND IMPORTANCE OF BIOGEOGRAPHY

Biogeography is the study of distribution of biodiversity over space and time, it aims to reveal where organisms live at what abundance and why.

At global scale biogeography can be defined as the study of distribution of continents and intercontinental connections to explain differences in continental-scale faunas and floras.

At regional scale biogeography refers to the study of distribution of species and communities according to topography and environment as well as the role of geographic and climatic barriers in separating species and population.

At local scale, biogeography is the study of distribution of species and individual organism in microhabitats. There are two major divisions of Biogeography; these are Phytogeography which deals with the abundance of plants and Zoogeography dealing with abundance of animals.

Natural resources are anything that exists naturally in any environment, undistributed by man, in their naturally form. They are considered valuable and useful to man in their natural form, depending on their quantity and demand. They include the land, forest, energy sources and minerals.

Natural resource management refers to the management of natural resource such as land, water, soil, plants and animals with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generations. Natural resource deals with managing the way in which people and natural landscape interact. It brings together land use planning, water management, biodiversity conservation and the future sustainability of industries like agriculture, tourism, fisheries and forestry.

Conservation refers to the wise use of the earth’s resources by humanity. Conservation of natural resources is now usually embranced in the broader conception of conserving the earth the earth itself protecting its capacity for self renewal and non renewable resources such as oil and coal.

It is not true that biogeography is a useless tool in management and conservation of natural resources due to the following usefulness of biogeography;                                                                        

The study of biogeography is a useful tool that acts as an essence of establishment of protected areas, maintenance and development of protected areas network; since biogeography is based on distribution of different species found in different areas, different protected areas such as game reserves like Mkomazi, Kigosi in Bukombe district and Selous and national parks like Mikumi National Park, Serengeti National Park, Ruaha National Park to protect lions, leopard, warthog, dik-dik and crocodiles the aim of this is to ensure that all species or organism found there are well protected and managed for present generation and future generation.

It helps in identifying invasive alien species which are threats to biodiversity through ecological biogeography; this deals with the current distribution of specie in a geographical area at a given time; invasive alien species are among of environmental change causing biodiversity loss in many ecosystems and are considered difficult to be eradicated since 1960s the spread of invasive alien species has been increasing in the country in the last few decades and is causing substantial threat to biodiversity and ecological integrity of native habitats and ecosystems. Tanzania has 67 reported Invasive Alien Species of different categories including plant pathogens, pests, aquatic and terrestrial weeds animals and trees.

It helps to achieve sustainable use of natural resources and environmental assessment to ensure the minimal impacts on natural environment; through understanding ecology, climatology, paleontology and evolution, many natural resources such as forest resource by discourage deforestation that can lead to the extinction of tree dwellers organisms such birds, chimpanzee and monkeys and encourage afforestation and reafforestation that can lead to the endemic of species, also aquatic organism such as fish by avoiding the use of poisons that have great negative impacts to the species and to the environment.

Biogeography is a useful tool since enables the conservers and managers of natural resources to know the interaction between organisms (eating each other, competing for food); this is clearly very important in biogeography. This determines whether or not different species can be found together in communities. These interactions can become so complicated that an alteration in the abundance of one animal or plant can often have very unexpected consequences for the rest of the community. It is therefore extremely important the ecologists and biogeographers should be aware of these relationships if they are to be capable of predicting the outcome of the environmental change or of the adoption of a certain management practice.

Biogeography is a useful tool since it enhances understanding of climate patterns over the face of the Earth; since it is linked with climatology which is a part and parcel of biogeography through understanding this can enable conservers and managers of natural resources to plan on which strategies of conserving to set on which will be suitable for a resource and it appropriate climate. Using climate and environmental data associated with biogeographical distribution of species to predict the where it might live in the future or where it has lived in the past.

Biogeography is useful tool since it enables understanding of the fossil records as learnt through historical biogeography; this facilitates to look into the past and observe the changing distribution patterns of organisms during the passage of time. Through all these, strategies and rules to regulate the natural resources are formulated to make sure that there is proper way of conserving the natural resources.

It used as a bases for research, forecasting and proactive management including possible ecosystem responses to climate change; Example includes prediction of area where habitats or species, including one’s are likely to occur or to shift and to direct further in poorly-understood area such that with the results of research this will ensure a number of majority to be well informed of the distribution of species, problems and the solution towards resolving several misconception that do prevail among the majority however all this will give a way forward towards forming some strategies.

Biogeography acts as field of studies that brings different discipline in the study of different species(organisms); discipline such as pedology, geology, paleontology, climatology that are studied in depth basing on their differences in scales and time of interest while regarding the number of species and their nature .For example some organisms are found at a very small scale such that if it arises the need of increasing their number into a large scale the concept of biogeography need not to be put apart hence very applicable, however different theories have been formulated in regard with biogeography such as the Equilibrium theory of island biogeography that traces the extinction rate and emigration of species with their equilibrium rate hence paving a way out towards the management and conservation of natural resources.

It helps to understand the patterns and processes of the distributions; through when the study of biogeography easily to know some species either species and or population like flora and fauna on the same place and other place are not found due some critical like environmental factors, ecological factors and historical factors influenced  species might be happened in some pattern. For example some species environmental to tolerance than other to survive and reproduce especially eastern phoebe winter range.

It helps to understand impacts of human activities on environment and biota; where unit can be expected to respond in more coherent and consistent way to manage action that applied across boundaries of the area. For example, specific uses include fisheries conservation and management measures; include stock assessment, monitoring and biodiversity conservation and bases for integrating scientific and socio-economic information on human uses, potential threats, policy and legislations.

Biogeography thought to be useless tool in conserving and managing natural resources due to the following weaknesses or limitations

Lack of information about the precise shape of the extinction and immigration of some species, the number of species at the equilibrium point may change over geological time, especially when immigration and extinction coincide with periods of anomalous climatic and geological event also, not all species have identical immigration and extinction rates for instance, birds generally have a higher immigration rate than large, heavy reptiles and mammals  So due to that fact to conserve and manage what called natural resources are strictly impossible.

Local knowledge to up the concept of biogeography, the local people have no knowledge about biogeography to link with the natural resources management and conservation , so become difficult to the local people to manage and conserve the various species and their habitant in order to protected to be dissapearence.So biogeography have shown useless tool to other side especially on the local people in conserve and manage the natural resources like water bodies, forest,land and aquatic species.

The continental drift theory under some of the evidence have been criticized by some scholar for example the jig saw fit that can not fit all continent exactly, also biological evidence some of the fauna and flora are said to be moved from one place to another due to the action of wind blow operation have to some extent can be said that these is one way the weakness of the theory.